Ok, so I did a 50% water change today. put my boy in a cup, did the water change and added a nice wisteria plant and a deco cow skull, also I purchased 2 cherry shrimp. So I put my boy back in, he seems to like his plant, but then spied the shrimp, all of a sudden he acts scared of them and he is all worked up. Is this normal during water changes and additions to tanks?? Does he just need time to adjust again?? Also had a quick question I hope not to silly, is it ok to put aquarium salt in a tank with live plants?? Oh and more thing, i purchased a check valve just to be on the safe side, I put the darn thing on and it reduced the amount of air to the filter to nill, I didn't like it so I took it off any suggestions??

I think when adding another critter to a betta tank, you put the betta in first. He might be off because bettas can be territorial. He'll adjust. You could try turning out the light over the tank if you think he's stressed.

You don't need aquarium salt in your tank as a regular additive. I'd leave it out. If you need to treat for something, you'd typically quarantine your fish. Salt in small amounts won't kill the plants, but they won't love it.

I'm not sure what a check valve is. I use an aquarium sponge attached to the front with an elastic to slow down my filter. It works well. :)

It sounds like he needs some more time to adjust to the new roomy....he should settle down.....

With partial water changes I would leave him in the tank and this can limit chemistry and temp stress....

Why are you adding salt?
If it is for a treatment it is best to treat in QT and not the display tank.....its important when using salt-to use it for the right reason, dosage and duration to prevent resistant issues....Bettas don't need long term salt anyway......it can cause kidney damage......

Over use, misuse, wrong dosage and duration of salt or any medication..often will cause more harm than good and when you need it for a real problem it may not be effective.....

Salt is not good for plants, so if you betta does not get better you may want to remove betta or plants before adding salt.
As OFL mentioned, salt is not good for longterm use.
I'm not sure what you put your check valve on. Generally is used to prevent siphoning water out of the aquarium into air pump or diy co2 system.

Thank you, I bought the salt just to have on hand incase needed, but I see now if you need, than QT the fish not salt in tank...well that will be added to the first aid kit yes the check valve was to prevent back flow into airpump, i guess incase of power outages ( which we have lots), it was cheap enough but I don't like the restricted airflow, then my filter doesn't do its job. We wont be adding anymore deco,plants or tank mates so next time he will stay in for water change!! I don't know whats more enjoyable to watch my betta or the shrimp, they are so cool.